When in Rome…

Stella

Day 23 Hooray   We woke up to a lovely breakfast made by the ever so loveliest owners. Ok this will take donkey  years. From the house we went out to see the colosseum. It was about an hour standing in line – boring  – but when we were finally in the coliseum the view was spectacular. In the very old days they used it to kill people 🤭. That’s horrible. We saw all the archaeologists and the dug up things. It was very interesting. Then when we had seen just about everything we went and had lunch. I had some salad 🥗 and Daisy had some carbonara – mmm yum.  Then we went and had ice cream  Delicious. Today was awesome. 

Daisy

Today was a fun day because it was Monday and we went to the colosseum. We looked at all the old columns. Some of them had fallen apart. 🦚The archeologists were digging up and under the stadium you could see were the medieval gladiators would fight the animals . After that we had lunch .

Jac

We conquered another Big European thing today- the Colosseum. We also had a European style wait of 1 1/2 hours in line and it was a constant exercise fobbing off locals who constantly asked us if we were interested in skipping the line by joining their tour, with the promise of saving heaps of time and losing heaps of Euros. We could have started up a subsidiary business, selling “You’re not the first person who’s asked but I’d rather wait” t- shirts- which could also be worn when managing multiple marriage proposals!

Once in, it was an incredible experience and there was so much history to learn about the Colosseum and its uses over the centuries. It has housed gladiator fighting, been turned into a botanical garden, a fortress, and a place of religious devotion. Rome is comprised of layers of construction and architecture and the process continues in unearthing these many layers. Many beautiful temples were deconstructed so that other monuments and churches could be built using these building materials. What also struck me was the perfectionism in the design and build of Classic Roman architecture and how that quality delivery and work ethic has diluted and disappeared over the centuries. Nowadays it’s a given for a builder to come back half a dozen times to redo a dodgy bit of work- thank goodness no one’s wanting Corinthian or Doric columns in their bathroom refit!

Always good to check the KPIs of our wonderful blog to see that we are maintaining our readership. We are liking the stats so far- Week 1 (667 views), Week 2 (956 views) and Week 3 (736 views). But because there’s been a recent unexpected dip and we want to to ensure a final week or so spike, my next blog will be solely devoted to Meghan and Harry’s new arrival and why they chose the name Spencer Charles John.

PS The owner of the key ended up being an Uber Eats guy who delivers to the masses in the Vatican City area.

Dan

After over 3 weeks away, I think the girls are in a bit of a mid-holiday slump.  Yesterday, Stella had a bout of homesickness after arriving at our new place, this morning she told me she was ‘all religioned out’ and at lunch time she had difficulty finding something to eat from the menu – “All I want is a home-cooked meal, like steamed veggies”. She ended up choosing salad and proclaimed all afternoon that she was “starving”!

Whilst waiting in line at the colosseum this morning, Daisy got talking to a lovely couple from Slovakia who were in Rome for a few days break. They asked her about her travels, where she was from and where she was off to next.  During their discussions, Daisy spoke longingly about home, school and her family (including our budgie Wavy!). She even asked me to get out my phone so that she could show some pictures.  Tonight she told me she didn’t really feel like doing the blog…

I guess tonight I am sort of feeling a little like that too.  We are in a wonderful country, immersed in fascinating history, culture and food, yet I am keen for a home-cooked meal, a catch up with mates and a night in my own bed!  I know these are ‘first world problems’ so tomorrow it will be a check in with the troops to see how we are all feeling, prioritising a healthy feed for us all and re-energising ready for our last 10 days of adventures!